Week 2 – Monday Update

After the 260km covered on Sunday, the participants of the Betfair LifeCycle Challenge had a relatively easy day with just 103km to cover, and just two checkpoint en route, with almost no hills and the extraordinary scenery of the Croatian coast to distract them. The day saw them ride from Zadar on the Adriatic coast, to Primosten, a 16th century town is located on a small island, with hardly any change in elevation for the cyclists. Over the past few days, the riders were truly put through their paces and there were a number of times when some of the cyclists seemed to have reached the limit of their endurance but the team spirit kept everyone going and so far all but one of the cyclists (who was unfortunately forced to stop by an injury) are still on track to finish the challenge on Wednesday in Sarajevo. But none of them are complacent. All of them realise how easily they could be injured and unable to continue, and at the moment, many of them are finding their levels of pain just about bearable. The short distance on Monday means that they will be able to actually get a few hours of rest after completing all their chores, such as washing clothes and their physical therapy. “The cyclists are doing much better than expected considering the conditions and the difficulty of the ride. There are a number of people who could easily have reached the point of no return because of their pain but thanks to the therapy given to them, they are still on the road,” one of the physiotherapists said. “The psychological battle is even harder to tackle as out there, the challenge is purely personal. But the cyclists tend to stay in groups and give each other the courage to continue at times when moments of weakness convince you that you have nothing else to draw on…” another member of the back-up said. Please do continue to support the Challenge in whatever way you can.